CF Verdie 1
Dear Addie, I expect this is the recent event in my life which would most interest you: I have been to a party – a party at a castle, no less. It had a wondrous thing, a watch tower turned into a giant cuckoo clock, which my lady host was gracious enough to show and explain to me. I am sending you one of my sketches – not a detailed plan but you can see how cleverly the dwarf engineer contrived. In any case, the party was monstrous dull until one of my new employers, a lady with a name like a bell, came to fetch me from my examination of that tower. She is from a distant country and looks very exotic, like a delicate flower but she has been terrifically kind to me. As you know, the only truly smart dress I had was that pink one you had me buy for your engagement party, which itches and makes me feel like a three-legged cat. My new employer loaned me some fine clothes, which suited me much better. At least, they did not have sad memories stitched into every seam. It was a shocking evening. Bandits interrupted the fine music and dancing, for a reason I do not quite understand. The other two gentlemen who had hired me were nowhere to be seen, and my lady employer determined that there was a bomb in that lovely tower which I had been studying. Imagine, transforming a glorious work like that into an instrument of destruction. Clearly the work of deranged monsters! My blood boiled and I admit to you what you must never tell mother: I smacked one of them on the head so hard, he sank to the ground. Another guard traded blows with the lady, too cleverly for me to do more than distract him. And then suddenly, it was as if the forces of Nature herself rose up to defend the tower behind us! Adelaide, I have seen similar wonders in machinery, but never have I witnessed vines writhe like angry serpents. The second guard was wrapped like a mummy before he could squeak and I pelted up the steps following my lady employer. At the top, a Prussian composer aimed a pistol at us, and behind him was the bomb, a timer atop numerous barrels of explosive. Something happened that I can not quite explain, but the weapon glowed red hot and flung itself from his hands. He yelped like a beaten dog and fled up the stairs to the top of the tower. I hesitated for an instant, unsure if I should (or even could) disarm the bomb or chase after. The lady had no such qualms; she raced after him and I imagined her helpless body flung like a pretty silk handkerchief from the tower. I ran after, snatched up some stones from the steps and flung them at the villain, but to no avail. A stray gust of wind and he almost toppled from the tower, catching at the edge at the last moment. He had threatened us, but I had no wish to see him fall below, so I pulled him up. Another thing that you should keep from mother, I beg you. Please excuse the stains on this page. While I wrote you, my lady employer, Miss Ding Who came to offer me some tea which I spilled on the page. I am in sad need of new paper, but I have none and nowhere to buy more on this air ship. Yes, that is my most exciting piece of news. I have been hired as a mechanic for this beautiful machine, surely an engineering triumph, French though it is. The lady has certain skill in a more graceful form of fisticuffs and has agreed to show me techniques popular in her distant country. To finish my story of the party, I did save the tower, and found my employers again. The two gentlemen’s clothes were terribly disarranged, unlike the spotless fashion-plates they appeared to be earlier in the evening. I am afraid to ask why. I have four employers in this job, surely a confusing situation. In my last letter, I mentioned some trouble with Igo Etrich who, you have probably forgotten, rules a minor engineering guild in Vienna. He appeared singularly unimpressed with my skills or my person, I am afraid, and I was resigned to accepting the dregs of employment. However, he gave my name as a prospect to this employer. He seemed very pleased when I accepted the position and I confess to being mistaken. I have mentioned, the lady, Miss Ding, but have barely written of the others. The first I met was a Colonel, he who hired me without requesting references or even looking at me. Perhaps that is how the gentry hire mechanics. There is also a doctor and his daughter, a willful girl about your age. I believe I hear a bit of American in her accent. Finally, there is a loud gentleman, who, as you used to say, is “grapely ill,” suffering the disease of so many. Beyond ordering me to serve him beverages, I have had little contact with him. For that matter, I have barely spoken with the good doctor, but I am glad that he is with us. The travels they are on seem dangerous, and a physician will surely save lives. I confess to some misgivings about my employers. Miss Who assures me that the air ship belongs to them, but it was not purchased. Instead, it was stolen from a wayward band of pirates. Surely such an act confers ownership, but I worry what mother would say if she heard that I have joined privateers or worse. Already I imagine some tension among the four, but am determined to keep my eyes on my work. I am en route to Damascus by way of Constantinople and will send you word from there once we arrive. I have also wired money to you and mother. My new contract pays very well indeed, so I will be able to send enough to pay your tuition. Please write more about your violin lessons and about the new clergyman. He sounds very agreeable. Your loving sister, Vertiline Dodge